14 May 2013 Last updated at 06:24 ET

Pakistan profile

President: Asif Ali Zardari

Mr Zardari became president after Gen Musharraf's resignation in 2008

Asif Ali Zardari won the presidential race of 6 September 2008 by a big majority. His election by Pakistan's legislators came a few weeks after his predecessor Pervez Musharraf resigned under threat of impeachment.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Mr Zardari said he was accepting the post of president in the name of his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Zardari had long lived in the shadow of his late charismatic wife, who was twice Pakistan's prime minister and head of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - a position Mr Zardari inherited upon her death in December 2007.

Asif Zardari married Ms Bhutto in 1987 and held the positions of federal environment minister and federal investment minister during her tenure as premier.

But Mr Zardari was also controversially referred to as "Mr 10%" following allegations of corruption. For this, and for murder charges of which he was later cleared, he spent two separate terms in prison totalling eleven and a half years.

In December 2009, the Supreme Court ruled illegal an amnesty law introduced in 2007 by former President Musharraf offering Mr Zardari immunity from corruption charges. The law was designed to allow Mr Zardari's late wife, Benazir Bhutto, to return to the country.

Under pressure to relinquish some of the powers accumulated by Pakistan's presidency in four decades of recurrent military rule, Mr Zardari in April 2010 presented to parliament proposals for sweeping constitutional reform.

The measures were designed to strip the president of key powers - including the right to dissolve parliament, dismiss the government and appoint the head of the powerful military - and in effect restrict the office to a largely ceremonial role.

The constitutional amendments bill received overwhelming support in both houses of parliament.

In 2010, Mr Zardari came under heavy criticism in Pakistan for visiting Britain during the devastating floods, in which millions were displaced.

On becoming president, Mr Zardari pledged to tackle the problem of Islamic militancy. Following allegations by India that the devastating 2008 attacks on the city of Mumbai were orchestrated in Pakistan, he insisted his country was ready to cooperate with other countries in the fight against terrorism.

Asif Ali Zardari was born on 26 July 1955. He comes from a prominent family in Pakistan's Sindh province and has one son and two daughters. His son, Bilawal Zardari, was born in 1988 and is co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party.

Prime minister (acting): Mir Hazar Khan Khoso

A retired senior judge, Mir Hazar Khan Khoso took over as caretaker prime minister in March 2013, to oversee the parliamentary elections that brought the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to power in May. This marked the first transition from one elected government to another in Pakistan's history.

The previous prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, resigned on the expiry of the government's parliamentary mandate in March.

His nine-month Pakistani People's Party administration, combined with that of his predecessor Yusuf Raza Gilani, made history by being the first Pakistani government to complete its five-year term without being interrupted by early elections or a military coup.

Mr Ashraf took office after the Supreme Court removed his predecessor

A long-running dispute between the judiciary and politicians came to a head in 2012 when the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented ruling, debarred Mr Gilani from office as prime minister and MP on the grounds that he had failed to pursue corruption allegations against President Zardari.

Mr Ashraf was nominated by the Pakistan People's Party after a court ordered the arrest of its first post-Gilani nominee over a drugs scandal.

After his election, Mr Ashraf said the economy, power cuts and inflation were his main priorities. He said he wanted to deal with the US on an equal footing and said his government would continue a dialogue for peace with India.

Mr Ashraf himself was accused of corruption during his tenure as water and power minister, but denies wrongdoing.